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Readers of this Website tend to skew toward the sober and sensible side of the investor spectrum. That may explain why yield-oriented investment stories tend to get the kind of attention that social-media stocks get on other sites.

In that spirit, I submit fresh pieces by Forbes and Seeking Alpha that tout investments that are more about yield than capital appreciation potential.

A Forbes article written by contributor Richard Lehmann focuses on ways to get 6% yield.

A big risk, of course, to these investments is if rates rise throughout the remainder of the year. But Lehmann expects that by the end of the year, rates will be close to where they are now.

Meanwhile, Seeking Alpha has a decent piece that makes a bullish case for mid-cap real-estate investment trusts (REITS), which he argues could be the beneficiaries of expected consolidation in the industry.

Seeking Alpha

Contrasting these smaller REITS to their large-cap brethren, Brad Thomas, editor of the Intelligent REIT Investor newsletter, writes that the "lack of Wall Street coverage and investor interest can also result in shares remaining undervalued - especially in down markets - for extended periods of time."

Thomas adds that these "less relevant" REITs offer better potential for growth over the long term. "Due to the decreased institutional support, there's a better chance that the REITs will result in an underestimation of operational health and growth prospects," he adds.

Thomas' piece offers up a list of more than a dozen possible names, including the hottest sector the "triple net REITs." (Under a triple net lease, a tenant must pay property taxes, building insurance and maintenance and repairs in addition to rent.)

I'll close this column with a very different take on emerging-market stock valuation levels.

Most of the stories I've read lately on the topic contend that the sector is undervalued at this point.

Indeed, a piece by Morningstar points out that the most common barometer of developing markets' stocks, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, is trading at a trailing price/earnings ratio of 12, below its 18-year average of 16 times. "Its discount relative to the MSCI USA Index, which is currently trading at 19 times, is also near eight-year highs," the piece adds.

But Morningstar adds that while emerging-market equities may be cheap relative to their history, a smart investor needs to also factor in diminished growth prospects in the sector going forward.

"Many of the tailwinds that the emerging markets enjoyed over the past decade have since faded," Morningstar writes. "China is undergoing a transition from an investment-driven growth model to one that is more oriented toward consumer spending, and it is likely to face some growing pains in the near and medium term. Foreign fund flows have grown more volatile and have helped expose which countries have relatively weaker fundamentals, resulting in higher currency volatility. Almost all emerging-markets countries appear to be settling into a period of slower GDP growth in the near term and medium term."

Morningstar's conclusion is that emerging-market stocks are operating under less-favorable macroeconomic and external conditions, relative to the past decade, and, as such, "current P/E multiples of around 12 times seem reasonable and not particularly cheap."